It was entirely appropriate that the man who coached Tasmania to their first Pura Cup title, Tim Coyle, was a home-grown mentor with a lifetime's involvement in Tasmanian cricket. Coyle was a wicketkeeper who played for Tasmania Under-19s and his first-class career consisted of seven Sheffield Shield games in the 1990-91 season. His days as a state player ended when a young Michael Kasprowicz dismissed him for the last time at Hobart and Tasmania tried a few other glovemen before settling on Mark Atkinson. He spent ten years coaching in Launceston, where he was also a coaching and development manager, before being appointed the Tasmanian Cricket Association's game development manager in 2000. Coyle was the state's fielding and wicketkeeping coach from 2002 to 2005 and was in charge of various Tasmania under-age and representative sides. In the 2005 off-season he replaced Brian McFadyen as Tasmania's coach and within two years he had delivered the Pura Cup title, with a home win over New South Wales in 2006-07. The respect that he earned was evident when he was shortlisted to replace Tim Nielsen as the Academy's head coach during 2007 but he did not get the job and remained at Tasmania.
Brydon Coverdale July 2007

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